Want to prevent birds from crashing into your windows? It’s all in the lines, dots, stencils and decals.
Kaitlyn Parkins of American Bird Conservancy discussed the science of bird collisions, and the basics of preventing collisions, in her Young, Gifted & Wild About Birds presentation..
We have videos and links to the best solutions
February 10, 2025—It’s always a shock and a little sickening to hear a bird smash into a window. But there are solutions. And because a least 400 million birds die each year in the U.S. when they crash into windows in houses and other small buildings, we can all make a difference in solving this big problem.
Kaitlyn Parkins, the glass collisions program coordinator for American Bird Conservancy, discussed the problem and the solutions on Wednesday, February 5, as part of Connecticut Audubon’s Young, Gifted and Wild About Birds series.
Kaitlyn’s presentation included the science of bird collisions, and the basics of preventing collisions.
The 400 million birds a year estimate comes from a combination of two scientific studies, one of which Kaitlyn co-authored. Those studies concluded that well over 1 billion birds a year are killed in window collisions in the U.S., and 40% of those occur in buildings that are 1 to 3 stories high, including houses.
The solutions include insect screens, tempera paint, correctly spaced lines or dots, decals but only if they are placed on windows correctly, and many other techniques.
This slide from Kaitlyn Parkins’ presentation shows the basic rules of preventing collisions.
Using them correctly is the key to reducing bird collisions.
Below is the video of Kaitlyn’s presentation. You should refer to these other resources as well.
American Bird Conservancy’s Birdsmartglass.org and Preventing Bird Collisions at Home..
The video is below, but or quick reference, here’s a PDF of Kaitlyn’s slides. Click here to download it.
The paper she co-authored is:
“Rehabilitation outcomes of bird-building collision victims in the Northeastern United States”
Lights Out
Many window crashes are caused by outdoor lights. Most birds migrate at night so an easy solution is to turn your lights out at night, especially during peak spring and fall migration.
Connecticut Audubon sends text alerts when a big migration is predicted. You can sign up to receive them here.
Our 2023 Connecticut State of the Birds report included an article by Viveca Morris about the Yale Bird-friendly Building Initiative.
Viveca and her colleague Meredith Barges made a Young, Gifted and Wild About Birds presentation in 2024 on the problem. Their video is below.
Kaitlun Parkins’ video is almost an hour long. To help find the parts you want to see, here’s a guide:
Executive Director Joyce Leiz’s opens with a welcome that ends at the 3:30 mark. It is followed by Fairfield Regional Director Amy Barnouw’s introduction of Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn’s presentation starts at 7:05 mark. It begins with:
The Science of Bird Collisions
Which Buildings Are the Worst?
Why Do Birds Hit Glass?
At 22:25, she moves on to Finding Solutions, reviewing the testing that ABC Birds has done.
At 25:30 she introduces the Principles of Collision Prevention. It includes How to Make Glass Bird-friendly.
At 32:30 she goes into the details of Collision Prevention “Rules” and Practical Solutions for Prevention.
Questions start at 48:21.
